System and Method for Generalized Multi-Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing

ABSTRACT

A method for operating a device includes determining adaptation criteria for a waveform to be transmitted by a transmitting device over a communications channel towards a receiving device, and adjusting a generalized multi-carrier multiplexing parameter (GMMP) of the waveform in accordance with the adaptation criteria. The method also includes transmitting an indicator of the adjusted GMMP to at least one of the transmitting device and the receiving device.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/806,187, filed on Mar. 28, 2013, entitled “System and Method forGeneralized Multi-Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing,” whichapplication is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to digital communications, andmore particularly to a system and method for generalized multi-carrierfrequency division multiplexing.

BACKGROUND

Current radio access network solutions use a differenttransmitter/receiver for each different radio link access technology. Asingle currently available radio link access technology, however, is notable to meet the diverse requirements of future radio access. Theserequirements include different traffic types with different quality ofservice (QoS) requirements, different spectrum usage with differentout-of-band leakage requirements, different applications servingdifferent numbers of terminal equipment, different transmittercapabilities, different receiver capabilities, and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Example embodiments of the present disclosure which provide a system andmethod for generalized multi-carrier frequency division multiplexing.

In accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure, amethod for operating a device is provided. The method includesdetermining, by the device, adaptation criteria for a waveform to betransmitted by a transmitting device over a communications channeltowards a receiving device, and adjusting, by the device, a generalizedmulti-carrier multiplexing parameter (GMMP) of the waveform inaccordance with the adaptation criteria. The method also includestransmitting, by the device, an indicator of the adjusted GMMP to atleast one of the transmitting device and the receiving device.

In accordance with another example embodiment of the present disclosure,a method for operating a device is provided. The method includesspecifying, by the device, a plurality of candidate waveforms for acommunications system, wherein each candidate waveform is specified byselecting a value for at least one generalized multi-carriermultiplexing parameter (GMMP), and storing, by the device, the pluralityof candidate waveforms in a memory.

In accordance with another example embodiment of the present disclosure,a device is provided. The device includes a processor, and a transmitteroperatively coupled to the processor. The processor determinesadaptation criteria for a waveform to be transmitted by a transmittingdevice over a communications channel towards a receiving device, andadjusts a generalized multi-carrier multiplexing parameters (GMMP) ofthe waveform in accordance with the adaptation criteria. The transmittertransmits an indicator of the adjusted GMMP to at least one of thetransmitting device and the receiving device.

In accordance with another example embodiment of the present disclosure,a transmitter is provided. The transmitter includes a signalingfrequency adjusting unit, a spreading factor adjusting unit operativelycoupled to the signaling frequency adjusting unit, an overlay adjustingunit operatively coupled to the spreading factor adjusting unit, aplurality of digital pulse shaping filters operatively coupled to theoverlay adjusting unit, and a combiner operatively coupled to theplurality of digital pulse shaping filters. The signaling frequencyadjusting unit adjusts a signaling frequency of an input data stream toproduce an adjusted data stream. The spreading factor adjusting unitspreads the adjust data stream over a plurality of sub-carriers toproduce sub-carrier data streams. The overlay adjusting unit generatesdata layers from the sub-carrier data streams. Each digital pulseshaping filter upsamples and filters one of the data layers to produce afiltered data layer. The combiner merges the filtered data layers toproduce output data.

In accordance with another example embodiment of the present disclosure,a receiver is provided. The receiver includes a plurality of digitalpulse shaping filters, a parallel to serial unit operatively coupled tothe plurality of digital pulse shaping filters, a decoder operativelycoupled to the parallel to serial unit. Each digital pulse shapingfilter demodulates, downsamples, and filters one of a plurality of datasub-carriers of an input data to produce a filtered sub-carrier datastream. The parallel to serial unit serializes the filtered sub-carrierdata stream producing a serialized data stream. The decoder generatesoutput data from the serialized data stream.

In accordance with another example embodiment of the present disclosure,a communications system is provided. The communications system includesan evolved NodeB (eNB), and a designing device operatively coupled tothe eNB. The eNB controls communications to and from a user equipment(UE), the eNB supports a plurality of candidate waveforms for acommunications channel between the eNB and the UE, where each candidatewaveform is specified by selecting a value of at least one generalizedmulti-carrier multiplexing parameter (GMMP). The designing deviceselects one of the plurality of candidate waveforms to be transmitted bya transmitting device over a communications channel towards the UE inaccordance with adaptation criteria of the waveform.

One advantage of an embodiment is that adapting parameters of ageneralized multi-carrier frequency division multiplexing communicationssystem permits diverse requirements (such as traffic type, spectrumusage, applications, transmitter capability, receiver capability, andthe like) to be met by a single communications system.

A further advantage of an embodiment is that communications equipmentwith different capabilities and/or requirements can be well supported bya single communications system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptionstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communications system according to exampleembodiments described herein;

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram highlighting an example progression ofwireless communications system technology standards according to exampleembodiments described herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates a first example waveform configuration overview for aGMFDM communications system according to example embodiments describedherein;

FIG. 4 illustrates a second example waveform configuration overview fora GMFDM communications system according to example embodiments describedherein;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example time-frequency plot of network resourcesaccording to example embodiments described herein;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of example operations occurring in atransmitting device according to example embodiments described herein;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of example operations occurring in areceiving device according to example embodiments described herein;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example first communications device according toexample embodiments described herein;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example second communications device according toexample embodiments described herein;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example GMFDM transmitter according to exampleembodiments described herein; and

FIG. 11 illustrates an example GMFDM receiver according to exampleembodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The operating of the current example embodiments and the structurethereof are discussed in detail below. It should be appreciated,however, that the present disclosure provides many applicable inventiveconcepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts.The specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specificstructures of the disclosure and ways to operate the disclosure, and donot limit the scope of the disclosure.

One embodiment of the disclosure relates to generalized multi-carrierfrequency division multiplexing. For example, a device determinesadaptation criteria for a communications channel between a transmittingdevice and a receiving device, adapts generalized multi-carriermultiplexing parameters (GMMP) of the communications channel inaccordance with the adaptation criteria, and transmits an indicator ofthe GMMP to at least one of the transmitting device and the receivingdevice.

The present disclosure will be described with respect to exampleembodiments in a specific context, namely a multi-carrier communicationssystem that adapts to different communications equipment capabilitiesand/or requirements by selecting values for waveform parameters. Thedisclosure may be applied to standards compliant multi-carriercommunications systems, and non-standards compliant communicationssystems, that are capable of adapting to different communicationsequipment capabilities and/or requirements by selecting values forwaveform parameters.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communications system 100. Communicationssystem 100 includes an evolved NodeB (eNB) 105 that serves a pluralityof user equipment (UE), such as UE 110, UE 112, and UE 114. In a firstcommunications mode, communications to a UE or from a UE typically goesthrough an eNB. In a second communications mode, a first UE may becapable of directly communicating with a second UE without having an eNBserve as a go between. An eNB may also be commonly referred to as aNodeB, base station, communications controller, controller, and thelike. Similarly, a UE may also be commonly referred to as a mobilestation, mobile, subscriber, terminal, user, and the like.Communications system 100 may include a relay node (RN) 115. A RN may beused to improve coverage in a poor coverage area of a communicationssystem or help to improve overall performance. A RN utilizes bandwidthallocated to it by an eNB, and may appear as an eNB to UE that it isserving.

A designing device 120 may be used to select a waveform for transmissionof a transmitting device(s) and receiving device(s) group. The selectionof the waveform may be in accordance with adaptation criteria. Adetailed discussion of example embodiments for selection of the waveformis provided below. Designing device 120 may be a stand-alone device incommunications system 100. Designing device 120 may be co-located withanother device in communications system 100, such as an eNB, an RN, aUE, and the like.

While it is understood that communications systems may employ multipleeNBs capable of communicating with a number of UEs, only one eNB, oneRN, and a number of UEs are illustrated for simplicity.

Even within communications equipment of a single generation, thecapabilities and/or requirements of the communications equipment maydiffer. As an illustrative example, a first 5G UE may be a desktopcomputer with 5G wireless access capable of running a wide range ofapplications, such as file transfer, web browsing, multimediaconsumption in high definition, social media, multimedia server in highdefinition, and the like. Many of these applications have differentrequirements, some need low latency, while others have higher bandwidthrequirements. While a second 5G UE may be a high definition display thatonly is a consumer of high definition multimedia, and a third 5G UE maybe a machine-type device (MTD) or a sensor that has limited datacommunications requirements, but has strict power consumptionrequirements in order to extend the life of a hard-to-change battery.Therefore, a 5G communications system may have to meet a diverse rangeof requirements and/or capabilities.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram 200 highlighting an example simplifiedprogression of wireless communications system technology standards. Asshown in FIG. 2, code division multiple access (CDMA) 205 is a 3Gwireless communications system technology standard and orthogonalfrequency division multiple access (OFDMA) 210 is a 4G wirelesscommunications system technology standard. In general, each wirelesscommunications system technology standard has been optimized to serveone or more intended services. As an example, CDMA 205 was designed tomaximize the number of voice calls, at the same time, providing mobiledata support such as Email and web access, while OFDMA 210 was designedto best support mobile broadband applications. It is envisioned that a5G wireless communications system technology standard will support manydiverse services, applications, and usage scenarios with a wide range ofperformance requirements. Therefore, it is may be difficult to design asingle waveform that is optimized for all services and/or scenarios.

In sparse code multiple access (SCMA), data is spread over multipletime-frequency tones of OFDMA resources through multi-dimensionalcodewords. Sparsity of codewords helps to reduce the complexity of jointdetection of multiplexed SCMA layers by using message passing algorithm(MPA). Each layer of SCMA has an associated codebook set. Low densityspreading (LDS) is a special case of SCMA. Low density signature (LDS)as a form of multi-carrier CDMA (MC-CDMA) is used for multiplexingdifferent layers of data. As opposed to SCMA with multi-dimensionalcodewords, LDS uses repetitions of the same quadrature amplitudemodulated (QAM) symbol on layer-specific nonzero position in time orfrequency. As an example, in LDS-orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (LDS-OFDM) a constellation point is repeated (with somepossible phase rotations) over nonzero frequency tones of a LDS block.

SCMA is an encoding technique that encodes data streams, such as binarydata streams, or in general, M-ary data streams, where M is an integernumber greater than or equal to 2 into multidimensional codewords. SCMAmay lead to coding gain over conventional CDMA encoding and LDS. SCMAencoding provides multiple access through the use of different codebooksfor different multiplexed layers, where the multiple layers can be usedby same user or different users. SCMA may be able to support largenumbers of active connections due to its overloading capability wheremultiple users can share the same communications system resources.

Filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC) is a waveform that offers enhancedspectrum sharing capability due to its good spectrum localization.Faster than Nyquist signaling (FTN) is a waveform that offers highspectrum efficiency.

Waveforms, such as OFDM, SCMA, LDS-OFDM, CDMA-OFDM, FBMC, FTN, and thelike, are described in greater detail in co-assigned U.S. patentapplications: application Ser. No. 13/730,355, filed Dec. 28, 2012,entitled “Systems and Methods for Sparse Code Multiple Access”;application Ser. No. 14/035,161, filed Sep. 24, 2013, entitled “Systemand Method for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing-OffsetQuadrature Amplitude Modulation”; and application Ser. No. 14/212,735,filed Mar. 14, 2014, entitled “System and Method for Faster Than NyquistTransmission,” which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

Several potential waveforms, such as SCMA, LDS, LDS-OFDM, CDMA-OFDM,FTN, FBMC, and the like, have been shown to exhibit some uniqueadvantages over OFDM. As an example, FBMC reduces out-band spectrumleakage and removes the guard band required in OFDM, SCMA and/or LDS mayincrease the number of users supported, as well as the data throughputfor multi-user transmission, while FTN signaling may increase thespectrum efficiency.

A 5G communications system may support one or more those waveforms,along with waveform parameters to implement the different waveforms.Furthermore, it is generally expected for a 5G communications system tosupport many different traffic types with different QoS requirements,different spectrum usages with different out-of-band leakagerequirements, different applications serving different UE, differenttransmitting device capabilities, different receiving devicecapabilities, and the like. Therefore, future 5G systems should beflexible enough to provide different services to different devices indifferent scenarios. An example of realizing multiple radio link accesstechnologies (RAT) is via multi-RAT inter-working, where a UE isconfigured to switch between different RATs via a network handover.Issues for such mechanism may include long switching time, largesignaling overhead, and implementation cost and/or complexity.Generalized multi-carrier frequency division multiplexing (GMFDM)provides such flexibility, where multiple waveforms are dynamicallyadapted at the physical layer and unified under a single framework.

According to an example embodiment, a 5G communications system supportsmultiple waveforms in order to support the wide range of requirementsand/or capabilities discussed above. Each waveform having a plurality ofcustomizable parameters. The multiple waveforms and associatedcommunications system parameters to specify them may be referred to ingeneral as generalized multi-carrier multiplexing parameters (GMMP). Asan illustrative example, GMMP may include: waveform, signaling frequencyfactor, digital pulse shaping type, spreading factor, overlay factor,spreading sequence type, and the like.

Signaling frequency factor (SFF) is a parameter that characterizes asignaling frequency of consecutive symbols in a waveform relative to aNyquist rate of the waveform. If the signaling frequency of the symbolsis equal to the Nyquist frequency, then SFF=1 and no intersymbolinterference (ICI) occurs, while if the signaling frequency is greaterthan the Nyquest rate, SFF>1 and ICI occurs. Digital pulse shaping type(PST) may be a parameter that characterizes a frequency response offilters used at a transmitter and a receiver of communicating devices.The shape of the frequency response of the filters may have an impact onthe amount of out-of-band emissions occurring in the transmissions.

Spreading factor (SF) is a parameter that specifies a number ofcommunications system resource elements (such as sub-carriers, forexample) over which a signal is spread. In some situations, the signalis carried in a subset of the communications system resource elements.Overlay factor (OF) is a parameter that characterizes a number of usersthat can share a layer. Typically, higher OF may allow more users toshare a single layer, facilitating support for large numbers of activeconnections. Spreading sequence type (SST) is a parameter thatcharacterizes a spreading sequence used spread the data into symbols.Usually different waveforms may use different spreading sequences.

The 5G communications system, through the use of waveforms, as specifiedby the GMMP, may be able to adapt to various conditions to maximizespectral efficiency, number of active links (in other words, number ofactive users), spectrum sharing, and the like, or combinations thereof.The process of adapting the waveforms to the capabilities and/orrequirements of communications equipment may be referred to as GMMPadaptation. GMMP adaptation may select values of one or more GMMP tooptimize overall communications system performance. The selection ofvalues of the one or more GMMP allows a GMFDM communications system toobtain a wide range of different waveforms, including OFDM, SCMA, LowDensity Signature OFDM (LDS-OFDM), CDMA-OFDM, FBMC, FTN, and the like,as well as combinations thereof, to meet the different capabilitiesand/or requirements.

GMMP adaptation may be performed in a stand-alone device in thecommunications system or a unit co-located with another device in thecommunications system, such as an eNB, a network entity in thecommunications system, and the like. GMMP adaptation can allow for themodification of the characteristics of a waveform that can provideimproved spectral efficiency, out-of-band emission reduction, reducedenergy consumption, QoS satisfaction, and the like. According to anexample embodiment, GMFDM is provided to enable flexible GMMP adaptationwith generalized signal processing at a transmitting device and areceiving device. GMMP adaptation may be performed for a singletransmitting device to single receiving device pair, a singletransmitting device to a plurality of receiving devices, a plurality oftransmitting devices to a single receiving device, or a plurality oftransmitting devices to a plurality of receiving devices, to specify awaveform between transmitting device(s) and receiving device(s).

According to an example embodiment, GMMP adaptation is performed for allcommunications for a single transmitting device(s) and a receivingdevice(s) group. According to another example embodiment, GMMPadaptation is performed separately for uplink and downlinkcommunications for a single transmitting device(s) and a receivingdevice(s) group. According to yet another example embodiment, GMMPadaptation is performed separately for a subset of uplink communicationsor a subset of downlink communications for a single transmittingdevice(s) and a receiving device(s) group. In other words, GMMPadaptation may be performed on a communications channel level, adirection (either uplink and/or downlink) level, or a transmissionlevel.

FIG. 3 illustrates a first example waveform configuration overview for aGMFDM communications system 300. GMFDM communications system 300provides, as a baseline, OFDM 305 that trades spectral efficiency (SE)with complexity. GMMP adaptation may be based on adaptation criteriathat include content and application, device capability, devicerequirements, spectrum sharing mechanism, network topology, channelcondition, access mechanism, and the like, as examples. In general, GMMPadaptation may select values for one or more of the parameters SFF, PST,SF, OF, SST, and the like, based on adaptation criteria to specify awaveform between transmitting device(s) and receiving device(s) bysetting values of GMMP.

A unit performing GMMP adaptation may have as input GMMP, such as SFF,PST, SF, OF, SST, and the like. The unit performing GMMP adaptation mayselect values for the input GMMP in accordance with the adaptationcriteria. As an illustrative example, if the unit performing GMMPadaptation selects SF>1, a waveform may be SCMA 310, which can supportlarge numbers of active connections due to its overloading capability.As another illustrative example, if the unit performing GMMP adaptationselects PST not equal to a rectangular pulse, a resulting waveform maybe FBMC 315, which may have advantages when spectrum sharing is a goal.As yet another illustrative example, if the unit performing GMMPadaptation selects SFF>1, a resulting waveform may be FTN 320, which mayoffer high spectrum efficiency. It is noted that the illustrativeexamples provided in the discussion highlights only significant GMMP forillustration and that other GMMP may also be selected by the unitperforming GMMP adaptation but not illustrated herein to maintainsimplicity. Furthermore, it may be possible to select values for morethan one GMMP and obtain a resulting waveform that is combination ofmultiple waveforms. As an illustrative example, GMMP adaptation mayselect SF>1 and PST not equal to rectangular to obtain a waveform thatis a combination of SCMA and FBMC.

FIG. 4 illustrates a second example waveform configuration overview fora GMFDM communications system 400. GMFDM communications system 300 alsoprovides OFDM 405 as a baseline. A unit performing GMMP adaptation mayhave as input GMMP, such as SFF, PST, SF, OF, SST, and the like. Theunit performing GMMP adaptation may values for the input GMMP inaccordance with the adaptation criteria. As an illustrative example, ifthe unit performing GMMP adaptation selects SFF>1, a resulting waveformmay be FTN 410. As another illustrative example, if the unit performingGMMP adaptation selects PST not equal to a rectangular pulse, aresulting waveform may be FBMC 415. As yet another illustrative example,if the unit performing GMMP adaptation selects SF>1, a resultingwaveform may be CDMA-OFDM 420 if SST is selected as Walsh Codes,LDS-OFDM 425 if SST is selected as LDS, and SCMA 430 if SST is selectedas Sparse Code (SC).

As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the selection of different values forone or more GMMP through GMMP adaptation may result in differentwaveforms, or it could result in similar waveforms with differentcharacteristics. Therefore, a GMFDM communications system may be able tomeet requirements and/or capabilities of different receiving devices andtransmitting devices through the use of GMMP adaptation for differentreceiving device(s) and transmitting device(s) groupings.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example time-frequency plot 500 of networkresources. Time-frequency plot 500 illustrates a plurality of networkresources partitioned into frequency bands and time slots. According toan example embodiment, in order to optimize a GMFDM communicationssystem for different receiving device(s) and transmitting device(s)groupings, the GMFDM communications system permits the co-existence ofdifferent waveforms. According to an example embodiment, differentwaveforms may be assigned to different network resource partitions. Asan illustrative example, different waveforms may be assigned todifferent time slots. As shown in FIG. 5, communications using a firstwaveform WF1 and a second waveform WF2 may be assigned to networkresources in a first time slot 505 and communications using a thirdwaveform WF3 may be assigned to network resources in a second time slot510. As another illustrative example, different waveforms may beassigned to different frequency bands. As shown in FIG. 5,communications using first waveform WF1 may be assigned to frequencyband 515 and communications using second waveform WF2 may be assigned tofrequency band 520.

The amount of network resources assigned to a particular waveform may bein accordance with factors such as number of receiving device(s) andtransmitting device(s) groupings utilizing the waveform, the amount ofdata being transmitted, the priority of the communications, resourceavailability, and the like. As shown in FIG. 5, communications using WF3are assigned the entirety of second time slot 510, while communicationsusing WF1 and WF2 are each assigned about ½ of first time slot 505. Itis noted that the partitioning of the network resources shown in FIG. 5is intended for discussion purposes and that there are many possibleways to partition the network resources. Furthermore, it is possible tosupport more than 3 waveforms or less than 3 waveforms. Additionally,the assignment of waveforms to network resource partitions may be on apersistent, semi-persistent, or short-term basis.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of example operations 600 occurring ina transmitting device. Operations 600 may be indicative of operationsoccurring in a transmitting device, such as an eNB in a downlinktransmission or a UE in an uplink transmission.

Operations 600 may begin with the transmitting device determiningcapabilities and/or requirements of a communications system (block 605).The capabilities of the communications system may include which valuesof GMMP the communications system is capable of supporting. As anillustrative example, the communications system may not be able tosupport SFF>1, or non-rectangular PST. The requirements of thecommunications system may include out-of-band leakage requirements,spectral efficiency requirements, QoS requirements, the number ofconnected devices, and the like. The capabilities and/or requirements ofthe communications system may be pre-specified by an operator of thecommunications system or a technical standard and stored in a memory.Alternatively, the capabilities and/or requirements of thecommunications system may be stored in an entity in the communicationssystem and the transmitting device may query the entity to retrieve thecapabilities and/or requirements of the communications system.

The transmitting device may determine capabilities and/or requirementsof a receiving device(s) (RD) and/or transmitting device(s) (TD) (block610). The capabilities of the receiving device and/or transmittingdevice may include support for FTN, FBMC, multiple-input multiple output(MIMO), and the like. The requirements of the receiving device and/ortransmitting device may include out-of-band leakage requirements,spectral efficiency requirements, QoS requirements, data bandwidthrequirements, the number of connected devices, and the like. Thetransmitting device may determine channel conditions (block 615). Thetransmitting device may determine the condition of a communicationschannel(s) between itself and the receiving device by receiving a reportof channel condition from the receiving device or by measuringtransmissions made by the receiving device on a reciprocalcommunications channel.

The transmitting device may perform GMMP adaptation to select values forGMMP for the receiving device and/or transmitting device (block 620).The GMMP adaptation may utilize the capabilities and/or requirements ofthe communications system, the capabilities and/or requirements of thereceiving device and/or transmitting device, the channel condition, andthe like, to adjust and/or select values for GMMP for a waveform usedfor a channel(s) between the transmitting device and the receivingdevice, a direction (such as uplink or downlink) of the channel(s), or asubset of transmissions on a direction of the channel(s). As discussedpreviously, different waveforms may be generated by selecting differentvalues for GMMP. As an illustrative example, OFDM may be generated as acombination of GMMPs SFF=1, SF=1, OF=1, PST=Rectangular; FMMC may begenerated as a combination of GMMPs SFF=1, SF=1, OF=1,PST=Time-frequency localized orthogonal prototype filter; SCMA may begenerated as a combination of GMMPs SFF=1, SF>1, OF>1; FTN may begenerated as a combination of GMMP SFF>1; and the like. Furthermore,different waveforms may be combined. As an illustrative example, FBMCand SCMA may be generated as a combination of GMMPs SFF=1, SF>1, OF>1,PST=Time-frequency localized orthogonal prototype filter; FBMC, SCMA,and FTN may be generated as a combination of GMMPs SFF>1, SF>1, OF>1,PST=Time-frequency localized orthogonal prototype filter; and the like.

The transmitting device may send the selected values for GMMP to thereceiving device (block 625). According to an example embodiment, thetransmitting device may transmit an indicator of the selected values forGMMP to the receiving device. As an illustrative example, a plurality ofwaveforms or GMMP sets may be predefined by an operator of thecommunications system or technical standard and stored at thetransmitting device and the receiving device. The transmitting devicemay select a number that corresponds to the selected values for GMMP andsend the number to the receiving device. Table 1 illustrates an examplewaveform table with GMMP values corresponding to candidate waveforms.The transmitting device may send the selected values for GMMPcorresponding to a selected candidate waveform to the receiving deviceby selecting a waveform index (WFI) and transmitting the WFI to thereceiving device. The receiving device may simply use the WFI toretrieve the selected values for GMMP. It is noted that although theinformation is presented in this discussion as a table, the informationmay also be stored as a list, and the like.

TABLE 1 Waveform and GMMP table. WFI SFF SF OF PST 1 1 1 1 Rectangular 21 1 1 Prototype filter 3 1 >1 >1 Rectangular . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

The transmitting device may communicate with the receiving device usingthe selected values for GMMP (block 630). According to an exampleembodiment, the selected values for GMMP may apply to both downlink anduplink communications. According to an alternative example embodiment,different selected values for GMMP may apply to downlink communicationsand to uplink communications. According to another alternative exampleembodiment, different selected values for GMMP may apply to one or moretransmissions on uplink and/or downlink communications. The transmittingdevice and/or the receiving device may use network resources scheduledin accordance with the selected values for GMMP, as well as the selectedvalues for GMMP to encode and/or decode the communications. Thetransmitting device and the receiving device may use the selected valuesfor GMMP to communicate.

According to an alternative example embodiment, blocks 605, 610, 615,and 620 (or blocks 605, 610, 615, 620, and 625) may be performed in adesigning device, such as designing device 120, rather than atransmitting device. In such a situation, the designing device may be astand-alone device or it may be co-located with another entity in thecommunications system. The designing device may select values for theGMMP and send the selected values to the transmitting device and/or thereceiving device.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of example operations 700 occurring ina receiving device. Operations 700 may be indicative of operationsoccurring in a receiving device, such as an eNB in an uplinktransmission or a UE in a downlink transmission.

Operations 700 may begin with the receiving device sending capabilitiesand/or requirements (block 705). As an example, the receiving device maysend its capabilities and/or requirements to a transmitting device tohelp the transmitting device select values for GMMP specifying awaveform for a channel between the receiving device and the transmittingdevice. As an alternative example, the receiving device may send itscapabilities and/or requirements to a stand-alone device performing GMMPadaptation, such as designing device 120. As yet another alternativeexample, the receiving device may send its capabilities and/orrequirements to an entity that stores the capabilities and/orrequirements of the receiving device and provides the capabilitiesand/or requirements to a requesting device when queried.

The receiving device may send information about the condition of acommunications channel(s) between itself and the transmitting device(block 710). The information may be in form of a report of channelcondition. According to an alternative example embodiment, the receivingdevice may make transmissions to assist the transmitting device make itsown assessment of the condition of the communications channel(s).

The receiving device may receive the selected values for GMMP (block715). As an illustrative example, the receiving device may receive anindicator of the selected values for GMMP from the transmitting device.The indicator may be an index to a table of candidate waveforms withGMMP values corresponding to the waveforms (e.g., as shown in Table 1).The receiving device may have a copy of the table and may make use ofthe index to retrieve the selected values for GMMP. As an alternativeillustrative example, the receiving device may receive an indicator ofthe selected values for GMMP from a stand-alone device performing GMMPadaptation. The receiving device may use the selected values for GMMP tocommunicate with the transmitting device (block 720). According to anexample embodiment, the selected values for GMMP may apply to bothdownlink and uplink communications. According to an alternative exampleembodiment, different selected values for GMMP may apply to downlinkcommunications and to uplink communications. According to anotheralternative example embodiment, different selected values for GMMP mayapply to one or more transmissions on uplink and/or downlinkcommunications.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example first communications device 800.Communications device 800 may be an implementation of a transmittingdevice, such as a communications controller, such as an eNB, a basestation, a NodeB, a controller, and the like, or a UE, such as a user, asubscriber, a terminal, a mobile, a mobile station, and the like.Communications device 800 may be an implementation of a stand-alonedevice performing GMMP adaptation, such as designing device 120.Communications device 800 may be used to implement various ones of theembodiments discussed herein. As shown in FIG. 8, a transmitter 805 isconfigured to transmit packets, selected values for GMMP, indicators ofselected values for GMMP, and the like. Communications device 800 alsoincludes a receiver 810 that is configured to receive packets,capabilities, requirements, channel condition reports, selected valuesfor GMMP, indicators of selected values for GMMP, and the like.

A criteria determining unit 820 is configured to determine adaptationcriteria that may include one or more of content and application, devicecapability, device requirements, spectrum sharing mechanism, networktopology, channel condition, access mechanism, and the like, asexamples. Criteria determining unit 820 is configured to receive theadaptation criteria. Criteria determining unit 820 is configured toprocess information to generate the adaptation criteria. An adaptingunit 822 is configured to perform GMMP adaptation in accordance with theadaptation criteria. Adapting unit 822 is configured to select valuesfor GMMP to configure communications that meet the adaptation criteria.Adapting unit 822 is configured to perform GMMP adaptation for variousreceiving device(s) and transmitting device(s) groupings. Adapting unit822 is configured to select an indicator of selected values for GMMPfrom a waveform table, such as Table 1. A communications processing unit824 is configured to communicate using the selected values for GMMP.Communications processing unit 824 is configured to adjust transmitter805 and/or receiver 810 in accordance with the selected values for GMMP.A memory 830 is configured to store adaptation criteria, GMMP, selectedvalues for GMMP, waveform tables, and the like.

The elements of communications device 800 may be implemented as specifichardware logic blocks. In an alternative, the elements of communicationsdevice 800 may be implemented as software executing in a processor,controller, application specific integrated circuit, or so on. In yetanother alternative, the elements of communications device 800 may beimplemented as a combination of software and/or hardware.

As an example, receiver 810 and transmitter 805 may be implemented as aspecific hardware block, while reliability criteria determining unit820, adapting unit 822, and communications processing unit 824 may besoftware modules executing in a microprocessor (such as processor 815)or a custom circuit or a custom compiled logic array of a fieldprogrammable logic array. Reliability criteria determining unit 820,adapting unit 822, and communications processing unit 824 may be modulesstored in memory 830.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example second communications device 900.Communications device 900 may be an implementation of a receivingdevice, such as a communications controller, such as an eNB, a basestation, a NodeB, a controller, and the like, or a UE, such as a user, asubscriber, a terminal, a mobile, a mobile station, and the like.Communications device 900 may be used to implement various ones of theembodiments discussed herein. As shown in FIG. 9, a transmitter 905 isconfigured to transmit packets, capabilities, requirements, channelcondition reports, and the like. Communications device 900 also includesa receiver 910 that is configured to receive packets, selected valuesfor GMMP, indicators of selected values for GMMP, and the like.

A reporting unit 920 is configured to report adaptation criteria thatinclude content and application, device capability, device requirements,spectrum sharing mechanism, network topology, channel condition, accessmechanism, and the like, as examples. A parameter processing unit 922 isconfigured to receive selected values for GMMP for a communicationschannel involving communications device 900. Parameter processing unit922 is configured to receive an indicator of selected values for GMMP,and to determine the selected values for GMMP from a waveform table,such as Table 1. A communications processing unit 924 is configured tocommunicate using the selected values for GMMP. Communicationsprocessing unit 924 is configured to adjust transmitter 905 and/orreceiver 910 in accordance with the selected values for GMMP. A memory930 is configured to store adaptation criteria, GMMP, selected valuesfor GMMP, waveform tables, and the like.

The elements of communications device 900 may be implemented as specifichardware logic blocks. In an alternative, the elements of communicationsdevice 900 may be implemented as software executing in a processor,controller, application specific integrated circuit, or so on. In yetanother alternative, the elements of communications device 900 may beimplemented as a combination of software and/or hardware.

As an example, receiver 910 and transmitter 905 may be implemented as aspecific hardware block, while reporting unit 920, parameter processingunit 922, and communications processing unit 924 may be software modulesexecuting in a microprocessor (such as processor 915) or a customcircuit or a custom compiled logic array of a field programmable logicarray. Reporting unit 920, parameter processing unit 922, andcommunications processing unit 924 may be modules stored in memory 930.

According to another example embodiment, a GMFDM receiver and a GMFDMtransmitter are provided with a unified parameterized architecture.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example GMFDM transmitter 1000. GMFDM transmitter1000 may be an example implementation of transmitter 805 and transmitter905. GMFDM transmitter 1000 may be configured in accordance with GMMPcorresponding to a waveform. GMFDM transmitter 1000 may include a FTNmapper 1005 that adjusts a signaling frequency factor, i.e., the SFFGMMP. As an example, FTN mapper 1005 may increase the signalingfrequency or decrease the signaling frequency of an input data streamrelative to the Nyquist frequency. A serial-to-parallel converter 1010parallelizes the input data stream after it has had its signalingfrequency adjusted. A spread over subcarriers unit 1015 may spread theinformation in the input data stream over multiple sub-carriers,adjusting the spreading factor, i.e., the SF GMMP. A layer overlay unit1020 may spread the sub-carriers over multiple layers, adjusting theoverlay factor, i.e., the OF GMMP. Each of the multiple layers may beprovided to an upsampling unit 1025 and a filter 1030. Upsampling unit1025 and filter 1030 may filter the signal, i.e., applying the PST GMMP.A sub-carrier modulation unit 1035 modulates the sub-carrier. Themultiple layers may be combined in a combiner 1040, producing outputdata to be transmitted.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example GMFDM receiver 1100. GMFDM receiver 1100may be an example implementation of receiver 810 and receiver 910. GMFDMreceiver 1100 may be configured in accordance with GMMP corresponding toa waveform. An input signal containing multiple layers is received byGMFDM 1100 and the multiple layers are provided to a plurality ofsub-carrier demodulation units, such as sub-carrier demodulation unit1105 that demodulates the sub-carrier. A filter 1110 filters theinformation in the sub-carrier and a downsampling unit 1115 downsamplesthe information. An equalizer 1120 completes processing of individualsub-carriers. Filter 1110, downsampling unit 1115, and equalizer 1120may adjust PST and SFF GMMP. A parallel-to-serial unit 1125 serializesthe information, while a decoder 1130 reconstructs the data transmitted.Decoder 1130 reconstructs the data in accordance with OF and SF GMMP.

Although the present disclosure and its advantages have been describedin detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutionsand alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for operating a device, the methodcomprising: determining, by the device, adaptation criteria for awaveform to be transmitted by a transmitting device over acommunications channel towards a receiving device; adjusting, by thedevice, a generalized multi-carrier multiplexing parameter (GMMP) of thewaveform in accordance with the adaptation criteria; and transmitting,by the device, an indicator of the adjusted GMMP to at least one of thetransmitting device and the receiving device.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the adaptation criteria comprises at least one of transmittingdevice capability, transmitting device requirements, receiving devicecapability, receiving device requirements, and a condition of thecommunications channel.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the adaptationcriteria further comprises at least one of content, application,spectrum sharing mechanism, topology, and access mechanism.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein adjusting the GMMP comprises selecting avalue for the GMMP in accordance with the adaptation criteria.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the GMMP comprises at least one of signalingfrequency factor (SFF), digital pulse shaping type (PST), spreadingfactor (SF), overlay factor (OF), and spreading sequence type (SST). 6.The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the GMMP comprises selectingone of a plurality of waveforms in accordance with the adaptationcriteria.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein adjusting the GMMP furthercomprises adjusting parameters of the selected waveform in accordancewith the adaptation criteria.
 8. The method of claim 6, whereintransmitting the indicator comprises transmitting an index associatedwith the selected waveform.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the devicecomprises one of the transmitting device, the receiving device, and adesigning device.
 10. A method for operating a device, the methodcomprising: specifying, by the device, a plurality of candidatewaveforms for a communications system, wherein each candidate waveformis specified by selecting a value for at least one generalizedmulti-carrier multiplexing parameter (GMMP); and storing, by the device,the plurality of candidate waveforms in a memory.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the GMMP comprises at least one of signaling frequencyfactor (SFF), digital pulse shaping type (PST), spreading factor (SF),overlay factor (OF), and spreading sequence type (SST).
 12. The methodof claim 10, wherein the devices comprises one of a designing device anda communications controller.
 13. A device comprising: a processorconfigured to determine adaptation criteria for a waveform to betransmitted by a transmitting device over a communications channeltowards a receiving device, and to adjust a generalized multi-carriermultiplexing parameters (GMMP) of the waveform in accordance with theadaptation criteria; and a transmitter operatively coupled to theprocessor, the transmitter configured to transmit an indicator of theadjusted GMMP to at least one of the transmitting device and thereceiving device.
 14. The device of claim 13, wherein the adaptationcriteria comprises at least one of transmitting device capability,transmitting device requirements, receiving device capability, receivingdevice requirements, and a condition of the communications channel. 15.The device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to select avalue for the GMMP in accordance with the adaptation criteria.
 16. Thedevice of claim 13, wherein the GMMP comprises at least one of signalingfrequency factor (SFF), digital pulse shaping type (PST), spreadingfactor (SF), overlay factor (OF), and spreading sequence type (SST). 17.The device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to selectone of a plurality of waveforms in accordance with the adaptationcriteria.
 18. The device of claim 17, wherein the transmitter isconfigured to transmit an index associated with the selected waveform.19. The device of claim 13, comprising one of the transmitting device, areceiving device, and a designing device.
 20. A transmitter comprising:a signaling frequency adjusting unit configured to adjust a signalingfrequency of an input data stream to produce an adjusted data stream; aspreading factor adjusting unit operatively coupled to the signalingfrequency adjusting unit, the spreading factor adjusting unit configuredto spread the adjust data stream over a plurality of sub-carriers toproduce sub-carrier data streams; an overlay adjusting unit operativelycoupled to the spreading factor adjusting unit, the overlay adjustingunit configured to generate data layers from the sub-carrier datastreams; a plurality of digital pulse shaping filters operativelycoupled to the overlay adjusting unit, each digital pulse shaping filterconfigured to upsample and to filter one of the data layers to produce afiltered data layer; and a combiner operatively coupled to the pluralityof digital pulse shaping filters, the combiner configured to merge thefiltered data layers to produce output data.
 21. The transmitter ofclaim 20, wherein each digital pulse shaping filter comprises amodulator configured to modulate the filtered data layer onto asub-carrier.
 22. The transmitter of claim 20, wherein the signalingfrequency adjusting unit is configured to adjust the sampling frequencyin accordance with a signaling frequency factor.
 23. The transmitter ofclaim 20, wherein the spreading factor adjusting unit is configured tospread the adjusted data stream in accordance with a spreading factor.24. The transmitter of claim 20, wherein the overlay adjusting unit isconfigured to generate the data layers in accordance with an overlayfactor.
 25. The transmitter of claim 20, wherein each digital pulseshaping filter is configured to filter one of the data layers inaccordance with an adaptive pulse shaping filter type.
 26. A receivercomprising: a plurality of digital pulse shaping filters, each digitalpulse shaping filter configured to demodulate, to downsample, and tofilter one of a plurality of data sub-carriers of an input data toproduce a filtered sub-carrier data stream; a parallel to serial unitoperatively coupled to the plurality of digital pulse shaping filters,the parallel to serial unit configured to serialize the filteredsub-carrier data stream producing a serialized data stream; and adecoder operatively coupled to the parallel to serial unit, the decoderconfigured to generate output data from the serialized data stream. 27.The receiver of claim 26, wherein the decoder is configured to decodethe serialized data stream in accordance with an overlay factor and aspreading factor.
 28. The receiver of claim 26, wherein each of thedigital pulse shaping filters is configured to filter one of theplurality of data sub-carriers in accordance with a digital pulseshaping type to produce a filtered data sub-carrier, and to downsamplethe filtered data sub-carrier in accordance with a signaling frequencyfactor.
 29. A communications system comprising: an evolved NodeB (eNB)configured to control communications to and from a user equipment (UE),the eNB supporting a plurality of candidate waveforms for acommunications channel between the eNB and the UE, wherein eachcandidate waveform is specified by selecting a value of at least onegeneralized multi-carrier multiplexing parameter (GMMP); and a designingdevice operatively coupled to the eNB, the designing device configuredto select one of the plurality of candidate waveforms to be transmittedby a transmitting device over a communications channel towards the UE inaccordance with adaptation criteria of the waveform.
 30. Thecommunications system of claim 29, wherein the adaptation criteriacomprises at least one of eNB capability, eNB requirements, UEcapability, UE requirements, and a condition of the communicationschannel.
 31. The communications system of claim 29, wherein thedesigning device is co-located with the eNB.